


Sandstorm

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Series: Adventures in Egypt [6]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 04:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15901290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: While traveling through the desert, the Doctor and Sarah get caught in a sandstorm.





	Sandstorm

 “Wind’s picking up a bit,” Sarah remarked, keeping hold of their camel’s reins as she glanced around the desert.

 The Doctor spotted the danger before her, and immediately instructed, “Switch places with me.”

 Sarah didn’t argue, not with the rapidly approaching sandstorm. They jumped down and climbed back up again, this time with the Doctor at Ajat’s reins. She did ask, “Where are we going to go? We’re out in the open!”

 “I’m sure we’ll find something,” the Doctor responded, spurring the camel to go faster. He pointed to the tall outcropping in the distance among the rocky hilly landscape. “That could be promising.”

 Sarah knew they weren’t going to make it to that before the sandstorm engulfed them, but didn’t say so, knowing the Doctor knew it, too. She put the hood of her travel cloak up and held one side of it over her mouth and nose. Her other arm was securely wrapped around the Timelord’s middle.

 “Come on, Ajat,” the Doctor encouraged, pulling his hood up and covering his lower face with his cloak. “I don’t think you want to be in this any more than we do.”

 There was no real warning as the storm caught up with them what felt like seconds later. Sarah squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face into the Doctor’s back. Her hand’s grip in the front of his tunic tightened more, as though she was scared of falling off and the Doctor not being able to find her in the storm.

 Sarah risked a second to peek, turning her head away from the direction of the storm and opening her eyes. All she could see was yellow and orange light and sand flying around them. Even facing away from it, the grit stung her face and she quickly closed her eyes again, hoping nothing had gotten into them. She worried about the Doctor up front, unable to hide his face like she could.

 “Holding up back there?” the Doctor had to shout to be heard.

 Sarah nodded against his back, and allowed a small smile at his concern for her, even though he was the one in more danger.

 There was no way to tell if they were still heading towards their target or if they were running around in circles. Visibility was practically zero. Sarah doubted she would be even able to see her hand if she held it out.

 The wind howled around them, and sand stung at any bits of exposed and somehow even some covered skin.

 The Doctor wasn’t doing any better dealing with it, unable to see anything past the back of Ajat’s head when he dared to open his eyes. He had no choice but to put his trust in the camel to keep going straight. Ajat’s gallop didn’t seem to falter, which gave the Timelord hope that he knew where to go.

 With Sarah as well-protected as he could get her, the Doctor could only hold on to the reins with one hand and hold his cloak over his face with the other. He took comfort in the tightness of Sarah’s hold on his tunic, assured that she wasn’t going to let go no matter what the elements threw at them.

 Finally, the intensity of the storm decreased by a small amount as they reached the outcropping. Still, it was almost as overwhelming as before, until a moment later when Ajat turned into a cave opening.

 Sarah dared to open her eyes and raise her head at the ceasing of sand and wind pelting her body.

 “Good boy.” The Doctor patted the camel’s neck as the animal stepped further inside. Finally, they were out of the fury of the storm.

 Sarah took a deep breath as she lowered her cloak from her face. She looked behind, to see nothing but that same orange and yellow past the cave mouth. Some of it blew inside, but it wasn’t enough to have her running for more cover. The cave interior was dark enough where she couldn’t see much further than a few meters ahead.

 At the patting of her hand from the Doctor, Sarah climbed off the camel. When the man followed a second after, she requested, “Give us the torch?”

 “Yes, don’t want to find anything nasty in here with us,” the Doctor replied, digging into his bag. He handed the torch to Sarah, who quickly flicked the light on and aimed it ahead of them.

 “Nothing immediately worrying,” Sarah reported after a moment. She especially looked at the ground before even taking another step, checking for snakes. It wasn’t a wide cave, and didn’t look very big until the Doctor pointed out the turn further back.

 “Shall we see where it goes?” he suggested.

 “Anything to get further away from all that out there,” Sarah agreed.

 Ajat followed them further inside. To their gratitude, it did open up into a larger space. Sarah shined the torchlight along the walls and ground before they properly walked into it. “Think this’ll do?”

 “Unless you’d rather go back and out and try to find another cave?” the Doctor teased.

 “No, no, I’m happy here.” She noticed, “There’s another tunnel, but I’d rather not get lost if it’s some kind of maze.”

 The howling of the wind this far back in the cave was still audible, but no longer overpowering their senses. This certainly was a miracle for them not only to find this cave, but to find it in the middle of a raging sandstorm.

 The Doctor dug in his bag, and pulled out a small device and a packet of what looked like ashes. Then he went out into the space to set it up. Ajat thought the spot where he was standing was good enough, and laid down. Sarah patted his head before going to join the Doctor.

 Now that the adrenaline of being in the storm had worn off, Sarah felt every grain of sand that had embedded in her clothes as she moved. “Ugh, definitely need to de-sand.”

 “We’re safe enough to do that,” the Doctor agreed. The device on the ground had now produced a small fire, which the Timelord slowly added the ashes-like material to.

 That was all the approval Sarah needed to start undressing. By the time she was down to her underwear, the fire cast light on the whole room without being very big itself. “Handy thing, that,” she remarked.

 The Doctor grinned, and then slowly blinked a few times, now feeling an irritation in his eyes.

 Sarah made a guess what had happened, and hurried back to Ajat to grab their water. She handed a waterskin to the Timelord, who gingerly poured the liquid over his eyes, still blinking the sand away.

 “You okay?” Sarah kneeled in front of him when he put the water down and started to carefully wipe around his eyes.

 A few seconds later, the Doctor stopped and shook his head. “There we go, all good.” He sat still as Sarah inspected his eyes herself.

 Only when Sarah was satisfied that the Doctor wasn’t lying about his eyes did she go back to the irritation of sand still on her. She looked down her period-appropriate bra, and sighed, “Really? How?” She quickly unwrapped that piece of clothing from herself, shook it out, and put it back on. “I’m never going to the beach again,” she joked.

 The Doctor also stripped down to his underwear, and both of them started to shake the sand from their clothes and shoes. Once that was done, they brushed themselves down, and combed through their hair with their fingers to get any more grains from there.

 “We’ll certainly need a proper bath,” Sarah stated.

 “You’ll hear no protest from me.”

 Neither felt the inclination to put their clothes back on yet, and settled on a blanket near the fire. Sarah considered the still-howling wind and inquired, “How long do you think that’ll last out there?”

 “No idea. Like with any storm, sandstorms can be small or large. An hour to several.”

 “Oh, great.”

 The Doctor smiled in reassurance. “We’ve got everything we need here. Shelter, food, water, and good company.” They both chuckled at the huffing sound from Ajat that was almost like a response.

 Sarah lightly swatted the Doctor’s arm. “I suppose so. Better than being out there, for sure.” She dug into her bag for some dried fruits. “What would’ve happened if we hadn’t found this place?” She tossed a few dates to the camel.

 “The best thing would’ve been to hunker down behind Ajat and cover ourselves as completely as possible until it ended.”

 Sarah hummed around the fruit in her mouth, and giggled as the Doctor lowered his head to her hand to eat a few pieces himself. She affectionately ran her fingers through his hair.

 Once they’d eaten two handfuls of fruit and had some water, Sarah stretched her arms over her head. The Doctor suggested, “We might as well get some rest.”

 Sarah nodded, and snuggled up against the Timelord, who put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head in response. For a little while, Sarah stared at the dancing light on the opposite wall. Then her eyes closed and she drifted off.

 

 Sarah awakened a while later, to find herself lying on her side with her cloak spread over her. The sounds of the storm outside hadn’t ceased or lessened, but more importantly, the Doctor was gone. She called out his name, and looked to Ajat at the lack of an answer. The camel was snoring in his sleep.

 “Don’t tell me he wandered off,” Sarah grumbled as she stood and glanced around. She wrapped the cloak around herself and considered the unexplored tunnel. She decided to check the cave mouth first.

 At the bend in the rock passage was the Timelord. He was sitting cross-legged on a blanket, dressed only in his underwear, facing out to the cave mouth. Here, the sound of the storm was louder than in the proper cave room, though not overwhelmingly so that Sarah felt the need to shout to be heard. The wind also didn’t reach this far in.

 Sarah went around to the man’s side. She noticed that he also had his eyes closed. “Doctor? What are you doing?”

 “Listening,” came the simple answer.

 “Listening? Not for any animals or… To the storm?“

 The Doctor nodded slightly.

 “How long have you been sitting here?”

 The Timelord shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m simply listening until it passes.”

 “Not that I have a problem listening to storms, but this isn’t the proper kind to do that with. Nothing like rain and wind against a window as you relax.”

 A small smile appeared on the Doctor’s face. “Sit with me?” He scooted sideways to make space for her on the blanket.

 “Alright.” Sarah sat next to him. She soon ended up lying on her side with her head on the Doctor’s thigh.

 “Close your eyes, and listen,” the Doctor instructed.

 Sarah did so, and took a few deep breaths as well. The Doctor’s hand rested on her head, and the fingers lightly massaged her scalp and went through her hair, putting her into a more relaxed mood. Her hand found his other one, and absentmindedly played with his fingers.

 Despite having experienced the full effects of being in the sandstorm not long ago, Sarah found that the howling wind and other sounds within it was calming in a similar way to a rainstorm.

 She didn’t fall asleep, though she did lose track of time as they listened to the storm in comfortable quiet together.

 Then, the sounds outside lessened, until they stopped. They both opened their eyes to find that the sun had gone down. They took a few more minutes to also appreciate the silence outside before standing and going back into the cave room.

 Now that the temperature had also gone down, the couple dressed. They decided to head back out and continue on their way to the next town in the night, feeling rested enough to do so. They put out the fire, gathered their things, and emerged from the cave entrance.

 A few minutes into their trek, Sarah tapped against the Doctor’s back. “I never thought the desert could be beautiful.” She looked out across the distance again. This was the first time they were out in the desert at night with no signs of civilization visible, except for the Great Pyramids when she looked in that direction. “But there’s something… magical about it at night.”

 “Enchanting,” the Doctor nodded.

 “I thought it would be sort of creepy, nothing but sand and rocks and silence. But it’s not. There’s just a magical beauty to it.” Sarah pushed herself up in the saddle to kiss the man’s cheek.

 The Doctor turned his head to kiss Sarah’s lips. Then they simply rested their heads against each other’s, staring out at the moonlit view.  


End file.
